Sensory Issues and life.

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Lately, I've been very down.

For some reason, I've just been overwhelmed lately by sensory issues. Everything seems too loud, too bright, and just throws me over the edge.

I feel my sensory issues are the biggest hurdle I have between myself and the rest of society. You don't get to meet many people when you have earplugs and sunglasses on just to make it through the day.

I've been wondering if I could really live 20, 30, 40+ more years this way. If I can't, what does that mean? Not pleasant thoughts.

Anybody else feel this way? What did you do to get over it?

I didn't learn I had sensory issues till this past year and I'm in my 40's. So I just learned to cope. You become resourceful and do what you have to to make it through another day.

My sensory issues are mainly touch and sound, but I have all the others as well. Because of the touch, I'm extremely sensitive to temperature variations/extremes, so I had to move to the tropics. I still make sure I have a sweater in my car and bring it with me everywhere to cope with air conditioning. I remove myself from loud situations. I always make sure I have my sunglasses with me when I leave the house. I pay attention to when I'm getting overstimulated and if possible, remove myself.

I've learned that after a day out in the world, coming home to a quiet place and reading or doing something that doesn't stimulate me, helps me get over the over-stimulation.

See if you can use earplugs that are not visible, like the clear silicone ones, that'll muffle sound but allow you to converse with people.

Have to agree with this (I'm 45 BTW). I actually think the sensory overload is becoming more pronounced as I get older, either that or I am becoming more intolerant of light and sound, sound expecially. (Actually, more I think of it, I am probably turning into a typical old curmudgeon.) Over the last three or four years sensory overload has been inducing nausea if I don't react fast enough. Worst still is when I'm experiencing synaesthesia, as if the overload bubbles over into other senses.

I'm still saving up for a set of noise cancelling headphones.

Since having ECT, my senses of smell and hearing are on constant overload. I don't know if this is to do with the parts of the brain stimulated, or what.
Smells have always affected me, but not quite like this. Most smells bring back memories, not all of them good. I even had to change the soap to non-scented because the smell of the perfumed one made me feel sick!
I think it is strange to have a sense of smell like this, I have hayfever which blocks my nose up most of the time, yet an acute sense of smell!
Maybe it will ease off after a few weeks...

I feel the same way I'm 38 and have always had it but its been getting worse lately not quite to nausea but to anger and anxiety too much niose and movement. I got a Pair of the niose canceling headphones and love them. I try to spend at least an hour a day listing to music quitely with something over my eyes to block light while relaxing in a recliner .

I hope I won't be in that position by the time I'm 45. I'm 29 now and over the last couple of years it seems like my sensory issues are getting worse. The main one is tactile hypersensitivity, and I'm pretty sensitive to light toward the end of the day (when I'm tired) but during the daytime when it's the brightest out it doesn't bother me yet. I've often wondered, particularly in terms of the tactile stuff, "If it's like this now, what will it be like when I'm 80?"

Consider myself "crotchety" (narrowly set in my ways) and curmudgeonly, at age 32.
Hadn't dx until adulthood, so in theory, the worst sensory stuff is long over. That is, if one believes that senses dull with age. For instance, visual & aural acuity, smell & taste, supposedly decline-if one assumes our bodies are at their peak at age 18 or so. Dunno' about sense of touch, whether that remains intense. Maybe other maladies (peripheral neuropathy, neuralgia, arthritis, etc.) interfere with physically experiencing as much, or cut down on mobility, or the ratio of pleasure to pain shifts for the worse. Sorry I'm not upbeat about aging, perhaps I'm too immature.
Nobody (not even me) knew what was wrong when I was as a child. No idea that my sensations were valid, since not shared by others. I don't know how to compare before & after dx because before I had no name for it, no way to analyze what triggered my distress. One minute life feels manageable, next minute life feels excruciating-how it is for me, whether mental or physical state. Wish people were more tolerant of our discomfort & attempts to adapt to offensive environments. Have enough to handle w/sensory issues, could do without reactions of others to my different interpretation/perception of what they find harmless/trivial.

mine seem to be changing with time. When I was young, less than 15 I'd say, smell was maybe the worst. Even thinking of smells would make me physically ill. These days smells don't bother me.

When I was young I was impervious to cold. Wore shorts to school in the winter. Now I don't do well with the cold at all.

Sound is about the same as when I was younger, touch too.


I was told as a child my loose joints would cause problems later in life (ie arthritis). This is probably going to come true as I'm getting a little creaky (29 yo) and have some definate joint issues popping up already. I wish the doc hadn't told me that- what good does it do to tell an 8 year old he's going to get arthritis young?

I don't mind getting older though, I think eccentricity is better tolerated the older you get- I'm ready to look like the hermit I am.